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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26361364">Sleep Is For The Weak</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrittenDevastation/pseuds/WrittenDevastation'>WrittenDevastation</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Shakarian Project [15]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>2am wake up call, F/M, Garrus and shepard have a baby, New Parents, Post-Mass Effect 3, Shakarian - Freeform, shepard needs sleep</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:06:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>643</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26361364</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrittenDevastation/pseuds/WrittenDevastation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Are you still awake…?” - Athena Shepard-Vakarian has always had one big issue: not getting enough sleep. Now she’s a parent, somebody isn’t exactly co-operating with her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Shakarian Project [15]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1876087</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sleep Is For The Weak</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Nice and short, enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Athena</b>
</p>
<p>I’ve never really been the person to sleep much – I never had much when we active during the war; my nightmares and work kept me awake. Even Garrus couldn’t seem to ease my worries.<br/> When we won the war, I thought the nightmares would stop. I thought I was free – but work never stopped, not until I fell pregnant with our son, Demus.</p>
<p>New worries swarmed my mind, rotting it and turning it against me; like a plague which I didn’t ask for.<br/>It’s been about 4 months since our son was born, and at first he was the perfect baby – slept all night and woke up at around 6am and that was great… but now he is up most of the night and I honestly don’t know what o do.</p>
<p> I know he doesn’t mean it, but it breaks my heart when he cries, and that’s all that babies really know how to do.<br/> He looks mostly Turian, but he has my red eyes, a tiny bit of red hair and five digits on his hands instead of three, like Turians are supposed to have.</p>
<p>He was born early, because he wanted to meet his Mommy and Daddy earlier, and is impatient just like Mommy. But in reality, it was a risky birth and he was premature because of how risky the pregnancy was.</p>
<p> I’m lying in bed, watching Garrus sleep when our son starts crying in his cot next to our bed.<br/>I swing my legs over the side of the bed. Garrus groans..<br/>“Are you still awake…?” He asks me, sighing. “What have I told you about getting some sleep. You need it.”</p>
<p> “Sleep is for the weak.” I say, grinning before turning to our son.</p>
<p>See, Turian children don’t need to be fed milk when they are young. However, since our son is part human, he likes some human things, e.g. milk. But as he is mostly Turian, we believe he will prefer Turian food as he gets older.<br/> So our son is obviously hungry, so I pick him up out of his crib and take him into the living room.</p>
<p> “Hi buddy, you want some milk? Wanna wreck Mommy’s non-existent sleep schedule some more?” I joke</p>
<p> Garrus has followed us in to the living room.</p>
<p> “I’ll make his bottle.” Garrus says.</p>
<p> “Thanks,  honey” I reply, trying to soothe our son.</p>
<p>He seems to get louder, like something truly terrifying had crawled into his dreams.</p>
<p> “Demus, c’mon buddy.” I stare at the clock which says 2am.</p>
<p>Our son has been waking up every few hours, and apparently this is a common thing? I know people who have had children who sleep longer than this occurrence. </p>
<p>He doesn’t seem to want to quieten down, and it’s heartbreaking. He’s also got a good pair of lungs on him.</p>
<p> “Were you ever like this?” I ask my husband.</p>
<p> “Turians don’t cry.” Garrus tells me.</p>
<p> “Except for this one.” I sigh, and pat our son’s back.</p>
<p> I change his diaper and Garrus has finished with preparing his bottle.<br/>We sit back on the sofa together – my head on Garrus’ chest and his arms around me and the baby, as I give him the bottle.</p>
<p>When he’s done, I burp him and he stops crying for a  good solid ten minutes.</p>
<p> “There we go, we’ve settled him.” Garrus sighs with relief</p>
<p>Demus takes this opportunity to start wailing again.</p>
<p> “Alright, Daddy. Your turn. I’m going to bed.” I groan.</p>
<p>Garrus laughs and takes Demus into his arms, kissing me goodnight.</p>
<p> “I thought you said ‘Sleep is for the weak’?” Garrus asks me, amused.</p>
<p> “Yeah well, somebody has to stay sane in this relationship.”</p>
<p> I don’t sleep that well, but I get some sleep, and that’s a start. And I love my family. I just…. Want more sleep, if possible. That’d be nice.</p>
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